Tourist in Madison Wisconsin...

In June I shall be attending a conferance at The University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I need to know everything!

Like... where to buy food? What sort of food may I expect to get there? What about the hotels? Any of the hotels "more organic" than the others? What is the tab water like? Do they add chlorine or anything else to it (I don't like toxic showers...)? And what about the general attitude. What are people like?

I am no stranger to travelling on Paleo/GAPS. I am just asking about the place, and I will appreciate all the information I get :-)

Ok, I am here now (in Madison). First day. Campus area. Don't know where to go, but I'm not gonna need much. Will go to Graze and will shop a bit for fresh food that I can keep in my hotel room fridge. Will try to find Trader Joes and Wholefoods :-)

There is Whole Foods and Trader Joe's very close to the University campus area. I'm not so familiar about what is in the area when going out to eat. For hotels check out istaygreen.org and yes the Dane county farmers market is great. In my experience Madison is clean, friendly, big enough but not overwhelming, excellent university, plenty to do.

I lived about 20 miles from Madison for 40 years. I've been gone for about 5 years, but I'm pretty sure they still have a HUGE farmer's market around the Capitol Square every Saturday morning. If you're there on Saturday, it's a must-see but walking/riding the bus are good if feasible because of the "wheel hub/isthmus" design of the city. If you're driving, there are many, many farms within 10-15 miles of downtown and many stores offering healthier-than-big-box products.

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Answers

I used to travel to Madison for business, staying in typical business hotels. They have hard water, but the tap water is drinkable. There's an interesting amount of Frank Lloyd Wright (Taliesen isn't too far away) and the ciy's juxtapose between two lakes is pretty. I've eaten very good egyptian lamb shank at Lulu's, which is now closed. Nile might still serve it. http://www.nilemadison.com/

I actually live in Madison, WI and am ecstatic to report there are TONS of places to eat. There is a large farm-to-table movement here, so there are a number of restaurants. There is also a great co-op, Willy Street Coop, on both the east and west side. You can shop there even if you aren't a member with a surcharge. Some of my favorite places to eat: Graze, The Old Fashioned, Coopers Tavern, The Great Dane has a nice GF menu. The Saturday's farmers market is an absolute must. Let me know what days you are here and what your favorite foods are and I can give more specific suggestions.

As for our water, we are actually rated in the top 10 WORST places for tap water, so take that into account. I filter my water, but otherwise use tap.

Ok, I am here now (in Madison). First day. Campus area. Don't know where to go, but I'm not gonna need much. Will go to Graze and will shop a bit for fresh food that I can keep in my hotel room fridge. Will try to find Trader Joes and Wholefoods :-)

Tempest Oyster Bar, Graze, Sardine, Cooper's Tavern, The Old Fashioned, Harvest and the Alchemy are my favorite restaurants. At all restaurants the servers and cooks are very open to gluten-free and dairy-free and will always find a way to work with what you need. Tempest Oyster bar has amazing side dishes such as the braised brussel sprouts and their tuna on top of picked veggies is freaking fantastic. Also try Alchemy for their sweet potato fries that come with dipping sauces of jalapeno/blackberry jam and tarragon mayo. The Willy Street Co-op on the east or west side are the best places for groceries. We have farmers' markets almost every day of the week just google "madison farmer's market". Hopefully somebody still gets some use from my post as you were probably already in and out of the city.

This is probably too late to help you, but for the benefit of others I'd like to mention my new, local (Madison, WI) paleo site which will eventually feature a large collection of paleo-oriented restaurant reviews (and more.) Please check out www.madisonpaleo.com